Apulia, ItalyA poll was made in the Postal 2 discord to see what the users thought about some changes, some people agreed with it, some people didn't or are just skeptical, I gave it some time and now I'll move on with this decision, and while I was at it, I took the opportunity to make the leaderboard more up to date like the other PC speedgames:
-The main timing method is now officially the "Loadless timer" once and for all, I went ahead and retimed all the runs on the boards that didn't have a loadless time using video editing software, this took me a while and might not be 100% accurate compared to the load remover, but it's what a PC leaderboard should look like, it's unfair that some runners have a better time just for having a more powerful setup. I couldn't retime some runs due to the videos being deleted or private.
-From now on make sure to use the built in load remover made by TheIntercom, just enable it in LiveSplit after you choose "Postal 2" as a game name in the splits editor, if it doesn't work while in game then run LiveSplit as admin. IMPORTANT: The loadless timer must be visible throughout the video for the run to be verified, so remember to switch to Game Time with right click > Compare Against > Game Time or just create two timers, one for Loadless and one for RTA.
-Of course, changing the timing method will fuck up the entire record data of the game, that's why I made a spreadsheet that shows the WR progression in the most important categories, so the WR history is safe:
https://www.speedrun.com/postal2/guide/7dkr5
There's a split before and after the new loadless timing to avoid any confusion. I'll keep this as updated as possible over time.
-All runs must show the initial main menu to be accepted on the leaderboard.
-The deathwarp, saveglitch and QSQL are now allowed in the main categories except "No Major Skips", Enhanced Mode and misc. categories. I was against the use of this glitch when it was first discovered due to it being very difficult to pull off, and in favor of splitting categories, but thankfully a new consistent method has since been found shown here: It's pointless to keep such timesaves away in a separate category and this isn't the only game where this kind of situation happened, it's also better to mantain a more simple looking leaderboard, there's just too many variables right now. If you want to do a glitchless speedrun then run the NMS category.
-As a result of allowing said glitches, "Restricted/Unrestricted" variables have been removed and the runs merged together.
-"Single segment/Segmented" variables have been removed, if you want to record a segmented run go ahead, but it won't be shown from now on. This is also to keep a less complicated leaderboard.
-"Impossible Pacifist Any%" category has been removed, do not make a new category if there's no runs of it, and please don't create pacifist versions of everything in the future, one category is enough.
Use of input display like "Skeys" or "NohBoard" is encouraged, just to show potential new runners at least what keys are being pressed, this is to avoid questions like: "What do you press to do X?" or "What's the movement for the Y skip?". Run the programs as admin if they stop working.
Thanks for reading through this, hope you realize that these changes have been needed for years and that it was only a matter of time before they were implemented. I wish you good luck with your future runs.
I'm upping this because the game has been finally updated and maybe some new runners will be interested in this project. GL to all :)
Awesome, this is a huge improvement for the speedrun community :) I hope the update comes around soon
Turns out there's been a slight change of plan, I will be back in August. But the Internet speed is slow here and I can't join discord, how is the run going?
I'm interested, but I can't play Postal 2 now because I moved in another region of Italy for work and I will not be able to play it until September :(
